Traditional cars, which are typically used for family type transportation, require an interior fabric that has pleasing aesthetics. Traditional trucks and sport utility vehicles, which are typically used for industrial work and weekend outdoor sports activities, require an interior fabric that is durable to abrasion and extensive use, and that resists soiling and water. Recent trends have been to use a hybrid of traditional cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles. The hybrid transportation vehicles are used not only for the family type transportation, but also for industrial and outdoor sport activities of the traditional trucks and sport utility vehicles. Additionally, fabrics for use in transportation vehicles must meet stringent requirements, such as flame resistance. Therefore, there is a need for textiles to be used in the interior of transportation vehicles, that not only have the pleasing aesthetics necessary for traditional cars but also the durability and soil and water resistance required of the traditional sport utility vehicle.
Heretofore, a number of approaches have been taken to making fabrics both cleanable and liquid resistant so as to be more useful in environments where liquid staining is likely to occur. Vinyl coated fabrics have been most broadly accepted for these purposes due to relatively easy cleanability and fairly low cost. These fabrics are generally manufactured by applying a coating of vinyl to an open scrim-type fabric, with the vinyl surface forming the outer or user-contacting surface. However, such vinyl coated fabrics are typically rather stiff to the touch and thereby lack the desired appearance and feel for use in environments such as automobiles, restaurants, nursing homes, and the like where pleasing tactile and visual perceptions by the user are considered important. Furthermore, the vinyl can tend to be uncomfortable against a user""s skin, and since it forms a continuous, non-breathable surface, it can cause the build up of perspiration between the wearer and a seat. In addition, the vinyl surface can get extremely hot, and can be uncomfortable or even painful to sit on in some circumstances.
Surface laminated fabrics have been utilized to enhance the aesthetic characteristics of the fabrics, but due to the generally disjunctive adherence between the laminate film and the fabric itself, these products tend to peel, crack, and delaminate after long periods of use. Such laminated products also tend to lack the generally desirable feel of standard upholstery products. Additionally, adherence of a liquid barrier film or coating to a fabric substrate is made all the more difficult when fluorochemical stain-resist treatments are applied, since such compositions by their nature tend to repel an applied coating.
While overcoming many of the disadvantages of the prior art materials described above, it has been found that the fabrics produced by the current methods may be less flexible and pliable than what would be optimal for some end use applications, and in particular, those applications such as intricately-shaped transportation vehicle seating configurations or the like. While discussed in some respects above as relating to automobiles and trucks, as used herein, the term xe2x80x9ctransportation vehicle seatingxe2x80x9d is intending to encompass seating or other surface areas of all types of vehicles, including but not limited to boats, airplanes, helicopters, bicycles and motorbikes, trains, machinery such as tractors, bulldozers, and the like.
Therefore, there remains a need for fabrics that are both cleanable and liquid resistant, have good fire resistance characteristics to enable them to be used in transportation vehicle type end uses, and which have good aesthetic charactistics, including good flexibility. There also remains a need for transportation seats having a cover fabric thereon with such characteristics.
In light of the foregoing, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a fabric which can be used for seating in transportation vehicles, which has pleasing aesthetics of the variety desired for family type transportation vehicles in combination with the durability and soil and water resistance generally desired for the traditional sporty utility vehicle, and also desirably has flame resistance and UV fading resistance.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fabric which possesses both stain resist and fluid barrier properties but which also exhibits good drape characteristics as in traditional untreated upholstery fabrics, where a good drape is understood to mean flexibility and/or lack of stiffness of the fabric.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method of making a fabric having the above-stated characteristics in an economical and efficient manner.
It is also an object of the present invention to procide a transportation seat having a fabric with the above-referenced characteristics.
To this end, this invention provides a fabric having, and a trasportation seat with fabric having, a unique combination of stain resistance and fluid barrier properties, while having drape characteristics more comparable to conventional untreated fabrics. In this way, the fabric is not only comfortable when used to form occupant support surfaces, but the fabric can also be used for applications such as intricately configured seating configurations. In addition, the fabric also desirably has high levels of UV fading resistance and flame resistance, and forms a good bond with conventional seating foam materials, such that the fabric is particularly useful in the manufacture of automotive seating.
Furthermore, the fabric is capable of receiving additional materials such as antistats, antimicrobials, and the like to provide it with additional performance characteristics as desired. The fabric can be made by providing a textile fabric substrate that has been treated with a low surface energy stain resistance compound, and applying at least one layer of material, and preferably two or more layers, to the fabric substrate, with the layer(s) of material cooperating with the fabric substrate to provide a fabric having a bond strength of at least about 0.55 lbs/in2 when tested according to ASTM D751 (2001) and preferably about 1 lbs/in2 or greater, a hydrostatic pressure resistance of at least about 50 mb and more preferably at least about 100 mb, and a oil rating of about 3 or greater when tested according to AATCC Test Method 118-1997. Preferably, the fabric also has a burn rate of less than 4 inches and a xcex94E of about 4.0 or less at 225 kj, as determined by SAE J1885 MAR92 (evidencing its good UV fade resistance.)
In one embodiment of the method, a low surface energy stain resistance compound is provided on at least one surface of the fabric, and stabilization material such as an acrylic material is applied to the other of its surfaces. An adhesive material is applied to the stabilization material, with the adhesive material in turn serving to bond a barrier material to the structure. In an alternative embodiment, the stabilization layer is omitted, and an FR additive can be included in the barrier material and/or the adhesive material to enable the fabric to achieve automotive industry flame standards.